Former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader weaves murder-mystery tale from her days with America’s team

When Marina Evans was studying creative writing and literature at Southern Methodist University, she heard that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were holding auditions.

“I did have a pretty extensive dance background,” said Evans. “Ballet was kind of my forte but I also did tap jazz and all that.”

She tried out, got the job and spent a season in one of the highest-profile dance positions in the world.

“I was a cheerleader in the 1980s,” said Evans, “when acid wash jeans were in style.”

After leaving the team, Evans went on to become an author, publishing a series of romance novels under a different pen name.

“I always joke that the nine people that read those books really like them,” said Evans.

Her latest novel, “The Cheerleader,” is inspired by her time with America’s Team.

The book opens at the beginning of a Dallas Lonestars game, when cheer captain Jentry Rae Randall senses that something is off.

“As she bats her blue eyes and flips her honey-blonde hair, she rallies the crowd into hysteria,” wrote Evans. “Yet, the only noise she hears is trouble.”

After the game, Randall’s body is found inside the locker room in a pool of blood.

This leads Nikki Keegan, a documentarian hired by the team, to take up the case.

“Her true passion is true crime. She’s very much an advocate for female victims,” explained Evans. “So she gets sucked into the homicide investigation. She’s not supposed to be.”

To get to the bottom of the murder, Keegan teams up with Shaunette Simmons.

“She is a Dallas Lonestars cheerleader. She’s a rookie, and she was mentored by Jentry Rae,” said Evans. “And her wound is that her mother is a stage mom, and so Shaunette is really only a cheerleader to please her mom.”

Evans used her experiences as a performer to analyze the opportunities, costs and expectations associated with physical beauty.

“I wanted to sort of pick apart how beauty is perceived today thanks to social media, kind of the notion of compare and despair,” she said, “because of course I didn’t have that when I was a cheerleader and I find that really fascinating. And there can be a dark side to it.”

Ultimately though, Evans wrote the book to entertain readers and show them what cheerleading looks like at the highest levels.

“I think that was my goal, to put the reader right in what it’s like to put the uniforms on, have your picture taken, practice on the field,” she said. “I hope that I succeeded in that.”

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